PFI-TT: Development of Point-of-Care Biochips for the Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Multiple Respiratory Pathogens

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project stems from the critical need for a low-cost, point-of-care (POC) microfluidic device for the rapid detection of multiple respiratory pathogens (such as whooping cough and pneumonia) in vulnerable people in low-resource settings. For instance, there are an estimated 24.1 million cases of pertussis worldwide, and about 160,700 deaths per year from whooping cough in children. The new microfluidic device can provide low-cost, rapid, and accurate detection of multiple respiratory pathogens at the point of care, enabling detection of whooping cough and pneumococcal pneumonia within one hour at various venues such as physicians' offices, schools, rural areas, and developing nations. Rapid pathogen detection at the point of care (POC) can significantly reduce mortality in children and the elderly. The microfluidic device also has the potential to detect a variety of other pathogens such as foodborne pathogens and SARS-CoV-2. Hence, the societal and commercial impacts of the translational development of this technique may impact global health.

This project is primarily intended to develop a low-cost microfluidic device prototype integrated with specific and sensitive DNA testing techniques for the rapid and accurate detection of multiple common respiratory pathogens (i.e., B. pertussis and S. pneumonia)in vulnerable people at the point of care. Conventional pathogen detection methods either take a long time or require costly and bulky instruments, limiting their applications for low-resource settings. This approach is based on integrated loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) on a low-cost paper/polymer hybrid microfluidic device. DNA amplification and six primers specific to each pathogen target ensure high detection sensitivity and high accuracy, respectively, while the instrument-free detection by the naked eye minimizes instrumentation requirements. The integration of LAMP on a portable microfluidic device further enhances its capability for POC testing.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.